LUCKNOW, April 24 -- For the third year in a row, Lucknow failed to produce a single student in the top five of the UP Board High School (Class 10) and Intermediate (Class 12) examinations. The results, declared on Friday, once again saw students from smaller districts sweeping the top academic honours. While students from Sitapur, Barabanki and Bareilly dominated the merit lists, Lucknow's representation remained notably sparse. Overall, the High School merit list of top 5 had 18 students in which none were from Lucknow. However, in the top 10 comprising 115 students, only two students of Lucknow Public College (Rajajipuram) figured, sharing honours at 10th spot with more than 30 other students by scoring 96.17%. Likewise, the Intermediate merit list had 23 students whose names figured in top 10. None of them were from Lucknow. In contrast, students from smaller towns excelled this year. For instance, in the HS exam, the number one position was bagged by two students - Kashish Verma from Sitapur and Anshika Verma of Barabanki, both scoring 587/600 (97.83%). Aditi from Barabanki stood second by scoring 585 out of 600 while the third position was jointly shared by Arpita of Sitapur and Rishabh Sahu of Jhansi. The duo scored 584 out of 600. In Intermediate, Shikha Verma from Sitapur (488 out of 500) topped the list while second rank was jointly shared by Nandini Gupta of Bareilly and Shriya Verma of Barabanki, both scoring 486 out of 500. The third spot was shared by two students: Surbhi Yadav of Bareilly and Puja Pal of Barabanki, both scoring 485 out of 500. When contacted, UP Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad (UP Board) secretary Bhagwati Singh said: "I really don't have a clear-cut answer to this issue. Maybe, in major cities like Lucknow there are far more CBSE and CISCE schools compared to UP Board schools. Hence, cream of students opts to study in schools affiliated to those boards." "Also, students from smaller districts have put in extra hard work to make it to the merit list," he added....